Infinite Dawn: Christmas of 2554
by John Sandman
Summary: The officers of the Infinite Dawn get together in one of the grandest celebrations of the Human calendar and enjoy their holidays as best as they can with proper meals, drinks, stories, gifts and a slow dance at the end. Special Christmas one-shot, side story for Reclaimers.


**December 25th, 2554, 1750 hours by UTC. Onboard the UNSC Infinite Dawn.  
><strong>It was a nice Christmas evening onboard the Infinite Dawn. Since the ship was pulled back to Earth for the week, its hallways were decorated with Christmas lights and multiple, rather big Christmas trees set around, mostly in the hangars and the bridge, with one placed in the brig even and on the S-Deck and the Mess halls and Wardrooms decorated with a few. For the most part, the celebration was a rather divided thing where the highest ranking officers were enjoying each other's company on the bridge, the lower-ranked ones and warrant officers were having a quiet time in the Wardroom and the enlisted having a real blast in the Mess halls.

The bridge was not so packed, though. The bridge was occupied by Captain John Sandman, Rala 'Thenam who was recently promoted to Zealot by the Arbiter himself, Lieutenant Commanders Jeromy Scott Storm and Alice Taylor, Ultra Veso 'Yermo and Jessica, the ship's AI. All of them were wearing non-combat gear. The Spartans were wearing their undersuits, but the two males – Sandman and Storm – had their sleeves rolled up instead of across the entire arm.

''Merry Christmas to you all.'' Storm announced proudly as he lifted a glass of champagne he allowed himself to buy on Earth for five hundred credits. The rest of the Spartans did so as well, clinking each other's champagne glasses.

''Merry Christmas.'' Sandman and Taylor announced together while looking at everyone of the group, including the two Sangheili and Jessica. All three of them took a sip while the Sangheili just kept looking, unsure of what they must do. Christmas is an alien tradition for them, just as much as Sangheili traditions are alien to many Humans.

''How do you celebrate Christmas?'' Veso asked, curiously looking over the Christmas tree, then the boxes below it and the decorations around it as well as Jessica having a weird hat that he could not recognize, a Santa hat as the Humans call it.

''Well, it's a long tradition. Mostly we celebrate it by having a big feast and then giving each other gifts.'' Alice explained a bit. ''Those boxes there are gifts, but our feast will come a bit later in the Wardroom with the rest of the officers.''

Veso opened his mandibles a bit, seemingly wanting to emit the ''Ohhhh.'' from his mouth, but instead he remained silent. Rala walked up to her boyfriend at his side and placed her head on his shoulder as well as wrapping her hands slowly around him. Perhaps she was trying to squeeze out what the Captain got for her today?

''Gift time!'' Storm said as he looked at the two already entering their usual hugging mode. He ran for some gifts he bought for his closest friends and immediately reappeared. He gave the first one to Alice.

Alice curiously observed it, visually at first and then began looking at different angles and running her hand along it. It was a typical box, small one, and light weight. She looked at Storm who was smiling and then nodded, giving her the green light to unwrap it. She did so and when the red decoration was removed, he found a holo-still of her and Storm posing together as well as a rather big in size ring, silver in color.

''It's from platinum and it was my family ring, but now I'm giving it to you.'' Storm smiled and Taylor looked shocked. A real platinum ring! That's a rare sight, even with UNSC expansion into the stars, a rare element is still rare, but Taylor also had to give a kiss to Storm as a thanks for that. The next gift was given to the Captain and Rala.

''It's for both of you.'' He explained why he was giving only one to two people. Rala gestured at John to open it, a duty which he accepted. She freed his hands, but remained closely at his side and observed him as he picked up the gift and began unwrapping it. He reached inside and what he pulled out was a pair of the latest phones with pictures of each of them set as the wallpapers. The phones were pretty thin, most likely three millimeters and dark in color. He passed the one with the picture of himself to Rala.

''I guess it's for emergency use?'' John smirked as he pulled out the one that belongs to him with a picture of Rala on it. He has used a phone only when he lived on Mars, but after that he had no time for using a piece of electronic equipment like that.

''It's for you two to reach each other, and us.'' Storm smiled back.

''You must've spent a lot on these.'' Rala commented, she wasn't even sure if they were expensive or not since she has never seen one before. The Covenant haven't used a piece of equipment like this. Ever.

''Not as much as the Captain.'' Unknowingly, he gave away that John must have overspent something.

''Storm.'' John gave a death glare to Storm for revealing his surprise. He raised his hands up in defeat, but gave the final gift to Veso. It was obviously sword-shaped.

''Since you're a warrior that respects blades, I decided to give you this. I called in a favor for a friend so that he can forge it.'' When Veso removed the wrapping in which the item was covered in, it revealed, at first glance, a straight sword in a black scabbard, but when he looked at it carefully, it revealed to be slightly curved. ''It's a Mameluke sword themed after the old US Marine Corps from the 21st century. More of a ceremonial blade, but this one can be utilized in fighting as well.'' After that, Veso removed the blade from its scabbard and carefully observed it. The blade itself was shining in bright gray color and the hilt was black like space minus the white UNSC symbol on it.

Veso noted the balance of weight at the tip of the blade and at the hilt as well as noted the sharpness and nodded. ''It's an impressive blade, I may come to like it.'' Veso commented and put it back in its scabbard and attached it to his belt.

''Your turn, Captain.'' Storm looked at John who was already going after gifts of his own. He seemed to have only two gifts, and obviously one of them was for Rala. As his sense of love dictates, he had to give the first gift to her.

''Close your eyes, Rala.'' John said and walked up behind her with what could only seem like a very rare Tiara necklace, one that could remind of royalty.

''Why?'' Rala asked in return while trying to take a peek at what John's doing back there.

''You're in for a big surprise.''

Rala turned back and closed her eyes. She could only feel John's arms moving above her shoulders and then felt something cold being put over her neck. She could hear the other three members of this little group commenting about it. She could not hold back a blush.

''Captain, how much did you really spend on that?''

''Oh my, that looks royally expensive.''

''It looks noble, fits Rala too.'' Said Veso since he was a nobleman himself, coming from a clan of nobles.

When John was finished, he moved around her and told her that she can finally open her eyes. He lifted a mirror in front of her so that she can clearly see what he had attached to her neck. It was shining brightly, seemingly decorated by diamonds in a royal fashion all around her neck. To answer their questions John turned to the group while giving Rala the mirror so that she can look at her new necklace herself.

''Quite a bit, but luckily my grandparents were willing to lend me a bit. Even with my O-6 pay grade, I could not buy it alone.'' He answered with a bit of pride and a smile on his face.

''Captain, not even those with an O-10 pay grade could get that. You must have some rich grandparents.'' Storm was amazed, the necklace surely was one of the rarest in the UEG and now it's around the neck of a Sangheili woman. ''I'd say she deserves it, it looks perfect on her.''

For a long while, everyone seemed to be just amazed at the bright necklace, as it was seemingly attracting their eyes to it. A perfectly crafted piece of jewellery can attract the attention of the richest and the poorest equally. Soon, however, they had to break away from observing Rala's new necklace, but after they had turned to see what the Captain had wrapped as his second gift, Rala lowered her mirror and she seemed completely shocked, but at the same time John could see the greatest happiness in her eyes that he's ever seen. All of a sudden, she ran right at him and managed to tackle him down to the ground in the tightest hug she's ever given. Fortunately for the others, the final present was lying on the holotable.

''Oh, John, I love you so much.'' Rala kept him in her hands as he was pinned to the ground. John didn't try to force her off of him, no, instead he enjoyed the moment. Rala now looks like a proper noble thanks to him. She kept squeezing him in her warmest hug until Storm cleared his throat just to see what that last gift holds and Rala slowly released him and got back on her feet, and helped John up.

''Right.'' John looked at the other gift which was rather large, but at the same time slim around the sides indicating that maybe it was a work of art. He removed the wrappers himself and revealed it to be a big holo-still. ''This is for all of us.'' John said as he showed it to everyone. The holo-still held each and every member of this little group in it. Sandman, in his uniform, was in the middle, standing straight with Rala, who was in her armor, hugging him at his side and him having one hand wrapped around her waist. Storm was in his Spartan armor, holding his helmet in his hand, and pointing at the cameraman with his left hand. Taylor was merely showing her side, but still looking straight at the camera while having her arms crossed and dressed in a MJOLNIR undersuit. Then there's Veso. Veso was standing behind all of them, since he was the tallest. In the holo-still, he was waving at the camera with what appeared to be a small smile.

Veso smirked, thinking that it's an odd thing to keep around although he did remark, silently to himself, that he was looking rather handsome in the picture. Taylor shook her head a bit with a smile and Storm raised his thumb up indicating that he liked it.

''Where shall we put it?'' Storm asked, still keeping his thumb up, but then Taylor lowered it as it was dangerously close to her shoulder. After a bit of thinking, John gave his answer.

''I've no idea, though I can make replicas and issue to each of you.'' He knew that there was no other logical way to settle the question. Copies were essential. He received nods of approval from the group, even Rala. He put the holo-still down on the holo-table and then offered a hug for Rala as they had not finished hugging a moment ago.

''Come here, Rala.'' He said in a soft tone and Rala didn't just begin hugging him, but she jumped in his hands, letting him hold her up as she locked her arms around his neck and stared into his eyes. However, most of the group had forgotten something - gifts from Alice Taylor. Fortunately, Storm remembered and gently tapped her on the shoulder.

''Oh… uh… sorry guys, I didn't get any gifts for you.'' Alice shrugged with a bit of shame in her eyes as she corrected her red hair behind her ears. ''I had to wish my family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.''

John looked at her, a bit serious at first. It was a bit unkind of her to just receive gifts, but then again, in John's eyes, family is more important than everything, so Taylor had done the right thing in the Captain's opinion. He smiled, letting her know that everything's fine.

''Family above all else, Taylor.''

After a bit, John stepped forward towards the bridge's doors and watched them slide open for him. He turned gently around, watching over Rala as she was still in his hands.

''Time to go to the Wardroom since we must celebrate a bit with our officers. After all, we're all brothers and sisters here.'' John finished what he was saying and then proceeded to step outside the bridge. His closest friends followed right behind him. It was a good thing that the Wardroom is on the same deck that the bridge is since it doesn't require the usage of stairs or any trams and elevators. Just a walk around the deck was all that it took to arrive in the company of officers ranging from the youngest and lowest warrant officers all the way up to First Lieutenants.

Upon arrival, the real celebration began with champagne consumed by everyone and a big meal shared around. Several hours passed with banter of ordinary men and women telling how their year had passed, what they expected and what they enjoyed as well as something that they don't want to experience again.

The Captain himself was socializing with the officers, listening in on their stories and offering his opinions on matters. For a commanding officer it was a really good thing to socialize with his or her subordinates. It offers a new point of view on what they like and dislike about their CO and lets that officer adjust his style so that they are content with it.

Many hours later, when the clocks had hit five o'clock in the morning of the next day, many were dead tired already. It wasn't combat that wore them out, rather the endless chats and drinks that they had, but at least they had a good time once in a year.

After everyone, besides his closest friends and a few officers including warrant officers, had left, John looked at Rala who seemed to still be fascinated by that gift of hers. He looked up at a camera, so that Jessica could see or read him by his lips.

''Jessica, give me a slow tune.'' John had an interesting idea in mind. He had wanted to spend this night, or more precisely, earliest morning, seeing if Rala had learned how to dance waltz. Not a moment after, a slow, romantic song began playing in the speakers of the Wardroom and John stood up from his chair and he corrected his undersuit a bit, wiping any dust that could be on it and stretched his hand out in Rala's direction.

''Will you dance with me?''

Rala didn't hesitate, albeit she felt a bit nervous. There were a quite a bit of people here, more than a dozen and they all were paying attention to her now making her blush a bit. She tried remembering her waltz lessons that she took whenever she could, learning from some Human Marines and even asking Alice for hints. Little did she know that John had rust on his waltz skills too. Despite the nervousness, they locked hands and brought each other close, keeping eye contact at all times. Soon, they slowly moved to a more open area under the tune of the song. The first steps of the dance soon started, rhythmically, under the melody, they started dancing. And dancing. Stepping forward, then diagonally, then bringing feet together. Stepping back, diagonally and together again. Both of them managed to match each other's steps, find the perfect rhythm. They stopped holding like waltz demanded, but instead Rala wrapped her hands around John's neck and felt his hands lock around her waist, bringing them a bit closer and closer. Even their foreheads moved closer until they touched one another.

For minutes without an end they just kept dancing clockwise without expecting anyone to join in, but that thought was broken when they heard someone standing up. They didn't dare break apart to see who it was as it would break the romantic moment. It was Storm standing up and offering Alice his hand for a dance alongside the Captain and the Zealot. Instead of getting locked together like their superiors, they slowly danced in a proper position, holding hands together and keeping some distance between them, however even they could not resist the romantic melody and they went closer together, feeling each other's warmth.

They weren't the only ones stepping up for a dance. Officers were offering each other the final joy of the night, and luckily there was an equal number of men and women, except for Veso 'Yermo who was just sitting on his chair and staring at everyone suddenly dancing. He had to admit, Humans have good music and dances for such occasions though he wasn't sure this was typical for Christmas that he's heard so much about.

And so, the final hours of the night were spent dancing under a romantic melody until the moment everyone got seriously tired. Not tired from exhaustion, but from having enjoyed the day however they could. Sandman and Rala were the last to leave the Wardroom, but as they left, they left holding their hands tightly together and humming the melody of this old Earth song all the way until they reached their room, sealed the doors and happily laid down on the bed where they went to sleep, happy as ever and well rested. They still had another day ahead of them, this time with the enlisted, but at least they finally put their dancing knowledge to the test and Rala eventually began to like dancing slowly with the Captain.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you guys think this is good. This is meant as a special Christmas side-story for Reclaimers, so I hope you enjoyed. I don't want any bashing reviews on this one, you'll just ruin it. By the way, the song I played when writing the dancing parts is ''Slow Waltz - Don't Close Your Eyes''. Search it up, maybe you'll have better feelings when reading this special side-story and hearing that.<strong>


End file.
